Dealing as an X-Man
by Cougar9
Summary: This is another Cougar fic, taking place when Cougar is still a student at Xavier's. Against her better judgment, she's put on a mission and needs to learn how to deal with the aftermath. (I'm bad at summaries, sorry). R&R please FINISHED
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men, they are the property of Marvel and Stan Lee. Cougar and her class mates are figments of my imagination.

Author's note: Here's another short Cougar story. I really do suggest you read her other fic's first (and review if you would). Otherwise I'm not sure if you'll get this one. I had a fairly decent sized fan base going on, so this is for you guys :D. Just thought you'd enjoy it, though I didn't get too many reviews on the last one I posted. This story takes place after my first fic How I Joined the X-Men, and the last short one I wrote Running From the X-Men. Cougar's still in school at Xavier's.

**Dealing as an X-Man**

It was a half an hour past midnight on a Friday and, while the rest of my class teammates had opted for a concert, I'd left the school immediately after supper. It was the first day in a month that we were allowed off school grounds. We were in trouble for getting into a fight. As in we, I actually mean the entire student body.

Like most American high schools, Xavier's has this really stupid hierarchy that puts graduated senior above all others. They can cut to the front of the lunch line, they board the buses first, they have priority over the gyms or weight rooms, that sort of stupid stuff. They were collectively called super seniors because they had already graduated but were staying there to train on various teams to be X-Men. There wasn't a lot of them, four boys and two girls. But six people with superior airs can cause a lot of trouble.

Clearly, I'm one who avoids trouble in most situations. My lousy luck usually just dumps it at my feet. The altercation that had caused a school wide grounding had started out silly enough. The super seniors had come into the lunch room like a pack of dogs and cut to the front of the line. On this particular day, Wolverine had been in a foul mood, making our training session with him long and hard, ending with a Danger Room session that we had no hope of beating. I was currently favoring my left arm because of it, but my always-thoughtful teacher had forbid me from having the six inch gash healed for twenty four hours so that I'd appreciate having two good arms in the future. Normally, I try not to talk back to the man, but I may have accidentally referred to him as Sabertooth, so he made s run an extra three miles. After that, no one was in a good mood.

"This is stupid," Conner grumbled from behind me. "I guarantee that we worked way harder than them today."

"Well running three miles didn't really help either," Amber groaned, stretching a calf muscle against the wall as we waited.

"I aint apologizin' again," I informed her.

"It's not your fault Mr. Logan was being a," Ana barely hesitated before ending her insult with , "jerk."

"Just say it," Amber smiled wickedly at her friend, always trying to get the shy, polite girl to curse.

"Jerk works as well as any other word," She held her ground.

"You're right," Joseph suddenly pushed himself away from the wall, "This is stupid."

"Where are you going?" Amber asked cautiously as he started toward the older group.

"I'm going to tell them where the end of the line is," he informed us.

Now I bet all this time you were thinking that I'd started the fight. And boy was it a fight.

Graduates don't have anything else to do except train, so they're good. They also outnumbered our team, who immediately backed up Joseph as soon as voices were raised. It started with shoving, but powers were thrown in quickly. Keep in mind that unless plants are accessible, Joseph doesn't really have powers. One of the girls was a telekinetic, more powerful than Amber at the time. Conner's flying skills were worthless in the standard height ceiling of the lunchroom. I was working with a bum arm. Their training let them see Ana as our strong point and they targeted her quickly. Blast was powerful. She knew this and she always hesitated to use her gifts against another person. But two of them were focusing their plasma blasts at her.

"Ana," Crayola shouted above the suddenly noisy crowd as she struggled to ward off a psychic bull whip, "Hit them already!"

She sent one of the boys across the room and through a table.

Here's the bad part. That boy was part of a training team, and the rest of his teammates quickly came to his defense. Even if he was a jerk who cut in line, they still had to back him. This quickly turned the fight between my team and the super seniors to a fight between my team and each of their teams. Then few of the under class men, who were not on teams but knew why the fight started, came in to help us, which was appreciated.

It was probably two minutes between the time that Joseph approached them and Xavier came in. In those two minutes, the lunch room was set on fire, three windows were busted, five tables were broken, seven chairs were smashed, two people were knocked out, one shoulder was dislocated (that was my doing), six noses were bloodied, three black eyes were given, one molar was knocked out, and there were several smoldering craters in the tiles.

"Stop this immediately!" Professor Xavier's voice boomed over the brawl. He must have put some psychic force behind it, because several telepath's clutched at their heads.

Just like that, everyone froze, deer in the headlights, to turn and look at the Professor, flanked by all of the teachers. And we knew we were in very big trouble.

We received a speech from Xavier first. He was the most powerful psychic on the planet, he didn't have to ask what started it all. Our behavior was unacceptable, deplorable even, and would not be tolerated. He went on for some time, the angriest most of us had ever seen him. Then he grounded the entire student body and sent the teams to their leaders.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys!?" Logan snarled, barely even in the door of his office. We parted like the Red Sea so he could get to his desk.

"What they're doing is wrong-" Joseph, who'd obviously never been in the office to be yelled at, actually tried to answer him.

"So you think destroying the lunch room is right?" he snapped. "I don' t have time ta babysit you kids all day long. Clearly yer not too tired after team training ta pull this shit."

"That has nothing to do with it," Amber crossed her arms, glaring.

Now Conner backed her up, "It's not like we got into a fight because we were bored."

"We're supposed to be learning to do the right thing here," Joseph pointed out, "And they-"

"There's a dozen kids down in the med lab right now. Again, ya thought startin' a brawl in the school is the right thing ta do?" the man stared hard at him. It was the first time we'd stood up to him as a team for anything serious, but I could tell my classmate's resolve was wavering. I saw this and, from experience arguing with the man, I knew he was about to crush us. Unfortunately, I knew that I had to distract him from his prey.

"Oh, bullshit," I opened my ever-in-trouble-mouth. "I've read enough of yer files ta know how many brawls you've started, Wolverine."

He zeroed in on me then. "You were warned, kid. I told ya if ya got inta another fight you were outta here."

"That was two years ago," I shouted back, "And check my files, I've been in, like, twenty since."

"Pack yer bags," he bellowed, pointing at the door.

"Ok," I shrugged, turning to leave.

I got to see my friends wide eyed looks before he barked, "Get back in here and quit bein' a smart ass," like he always did.

I moved back to my spot silently, like I always did.

The ploy worked, yelling at me refocused his anger. He resolved to just scowl at us. "Curfew is moved up ta eight for a week. Be in yer room by then or else. Go get something ta eat from the kitchen and get back ta class," he decides finally. And we were actually let off easy. We still were confined to the school grounds for a month, and had to repair the cafeteria with the super seniors, but it wasn't too bad.

That was why, on our first night of freedom, the others had gone to a concert, but I wanted to get away from people. I wanted to get out and walk. Wolverine said it was a feral thing; I can' stand to be cooped up, so I was allowed to go out to the city and wander the streets to help release the feral stress. I was safe, keeping my powers of 'unnoticable-ness' jacked up and I had a transmitter if I happened upon any crime. This worked for awhile until Iceman was on call one week and got tired of responding to muggings and small things. Then I was allowed to take care of it myself, still following X-Men rules. The other stipulation was a one o'clock curfew. If I was lost (happened frequently) and couldn't make it, I was to call the school and someone would come pick me up. Really, you'd think with two rules I couldn't get into too much trouble. But I AM gifted, after all..

At a quarter to one, I called Wolverine's cell phone number, leaving a message with my location. I paced the street for an hour before I spotted his jeep one block over. By then I was tired, my feet hurt and I was very much annoyed that he didn't pick me up at the pay phone but instead sat in front of some old warehouse. His vehicle was empty too, so I slipped through the buildings open door. Maybe he'd smelled something interesting. Curiosity killed the cat...

I walked in on what was clearly a shady business deal. Wolverine, wearing a black eye patch, was talking with a fat, short balding man who was flanked by two steroid guys who weren't afraid to flash their guns. They were talking about shipment of twenty units, guaranteed fresh and another ten used. In hindsight, I really should have just left...

"That is a large order," the fat man replied in a heavy Russian accent, "How would that not raise suspicion?"

"Different sources," Logan shrugged. "No one cares ta look. Just as long as you can ship them without getting caught-"

"Shipping is my business," FatMan got huffy at that.

"Aint my problem. My bosses just wanna make sure they're protected on their end."

"I will give the buyer your price. We can meet again a week from now at the first location-"

Really, I had just turned to leave when the most annoying sound hit me. It was a black Pomeranian, being walked in from outside by another body guard who looked less than pleased to be on doggy duty. I froze, but the yammering mutt had already picked out my scent.

"Romanov," the guard threatened quietly, trying to pull the rat back, "Quit that barking before-" The dog jumped up at me yapping and I suddenly became noticeable. His eyes met mine, both wide before he dropped the leashed and pulled his gun, "BOSS!"Everyone's gaze shifted to him, then the dog, then to me. "Boss, we got a snoop!" Grabbing my arm, he dragged me over to the other men with the gun p? What are you trying to do?" Now all three guns were drawn, but two were pointing at my teacher.

My eyes flew to Wolverine, who didn't look worried about the future of my brain matter at all. Instead he asked in an irritated tone, "I told you ta stay outside ya idiot. Get over here," with his hand facing up, he waved me closer.

In Japan, where he'd spent many years, the 'come here' gesture is actually given with the palm facing down. He had trained us to use that as a safety, and to use the usual American gesture as more of a 'this is a trap/you might die' thing.

He was basically telling me that there was a real possibility that I was going to be killed. Neat. Thinking on my feet surprisingly well, I blurted out, "An undercover just drove by for the second time. He's eying your jeep."

"What is she talking about?" the Russian demanded.

"This is my look out," Logan picked up my ploy, "Can't be too careful in my line of business."

"She was too fxxking close to business to just be a look out," the gun pressed harder into my head.

"She can go invisible," Wolverine explained. "Makes her good at her job. Usually." At this he gives me a dirty look.

FatMan looked between us, then nodded to the dog walker, who grudgingly released me. Warily, I moved nearer to Logan. He continued to watch me, though. "Perhaps if she is unsatisfactory, you should get rid of her. She looks young..."

From the edge of my vision, I could see Wolverine's hand twitch, almost like he was holding back his claws. Still cool, he answered, "Not for sale. She pulls her weight."

"That cop's gonna be back," I urged, not liking the conversation's direction.

"I'll see ya in a week," Logan nodded to the Russian before taking a tight grip on my upper arm and steering me around the men.

"Make sure your little pet is where I can see her next time." His threat came through clear enough, but to our backs he added, "My buyer would be interested in her, too. In the case that you decide she is no longer 'pulling her weight'. Even if you are using her, there's a market for those eyes."

Turning with a smirk, Logan replied darkly, "I'll keep it in mind."

I don't open my mouth on the walk to the jeep, not even when he rips open the door and nearly tosses me in, or when he noisily revs the engine and guns it down the street. I wait until my seatbelt is securely on before shouting at him, "What the hell was that?!" just as he snarled, "I outta kick yer ass!"

"What!?" I snapped back.

"You've been grounded for a month, and ya can't go one day without pissin' me off."

"Hey, I called ta tell you I'd be late. It aint my fault you stopped ta play pirate on the way ta get me."

"What the hell are you talkin' about?" He jerked the wheel and made an illegal turn down a one way street before ripping the eyepatch off and slamming it on the dash board.

"You've completely lost yer frickin' mind," I yelled, flinching as oncoming traffic veered around us, honking. "Yer driving like a psychopath."

"I'm makin' sure no one's tailing us," he turned onto a normal street and checked the mirrors.

Relaxing just a little I asked again "What was that?"

He took out a cigar and lit it, ignoring me

"Wolverine."

He glared out the windshield, so I gave up, rolling down my window to suck his disgusting smoke out.

I fell asleep on the way back to the school. I was rudely awoken to him ordering me, "Go wait in my office."

It's like, three in the morning," I yawned, stretching as I got out.

"Go wait in my office," he repeated impatiently, "Until I know what I'm gonna do with you."

I'm tired, so I obey with little more lip than to mutter, "How bout ya let me go ta bed ya crab."

In the office, I slouched down in my chair and stifled another yawn. We'd been doing midnight training sessions 'because X-Men don't have schedules' and it was kicking my butt. I jerked awake when the door opened.

Both Wolverine and Cyclops came in, walked to the other side of the desk and looked at me. After a minute, Logan was the first to speak, "What the hell were you tryin' ta pull?"

"Logan," the other man sighed, then asked me, "Cougar, what were you doing in that warehouse?"

Oh, wow, someone asking myside of the story. How refreshing. "I wasn't gonna make curfew so I left Mr. Psychopath here a voicemail-"

"Cougar," now he sighed my name.

"I saw his jeep down the street and just though he was there ta pick me up. I wasn't there," I glare over at the scowling man, "ta just piss someone off."

"Language," Mr. Summers scolded. "You weren't trying to insert yourself into his missions?"

I stared back like he was an idiot. "Do I look like-" I stopped myself short of saying Jubilee and finished, "Someone who would horn myself inta a mission? With Wolverine of all people?"

They exchanged a look before Mr. Logan took over the interrogation, "What'd you see?"

"Nothing," I answered not too quickly.

"Don't lie ta me, kid," he gave me a scowl.

"I would never lie ta you, Wolverine," I went for the wide-eyed innocent look.

He turned to a frowning Cyclops, "She's 18. It aint child abuse if I hit her no more."

Cyke raised an eyebrow at his partner before pointing out to me, "You're being rather uncooperative, Cougar."

I crossed my arms oer my hes and explained, "Cuz its almost four in the morning and you two are interrogating me. I aint givin' you nothin' til you tell me what's goin' on."

A muscle in Logan's jaw started twitching but Mr. Summers almost liked he was trying not to smile. He turned to the angry man to ask, "What's your response to that?"

""I'm gonna take her out back is what I'm gonna do," was the growled reply.

"She's your student," he pointed out, still amused. "And its your mission. Make the call."

If I wasn't so tired, the glare that he gave me might have scared the hell out of me. "Ya might not go lookin' for trouble, kid," he finally grumbled, "But ya sure got a knack for findin' it."

"Lousy luck," I shrugged.

"Udinov expects ya ta be at the next meeting," he gives me a name for the fat man. In exchange for that info, he demands, "What did you see?"

"You wearin' a stupid lookin' eyepatch," I answered, still irritable, "And makin' a dirty deal with the Russian. Thirty units that he'll ship somewhere else."

"Girls," Cyclops filled in. "Udinov specializes in the transportation of young mutant girls from the US. To Europe."

Uncrossing my arms, I leaned forward in the chair, "Power specific or what?"

"Sex trade," he corrected. "His buyer prefers mutants with physical characteristics but fairly latent powers."

I got a bad taste in my mouth at the memory of the fat man. "So why not just gut the bast-" I glanced at Cyclops before correcting, "Bad Guy...and get it over with?"

"We want the buyer too," Logan explained. "Then I'll gut the bastard."

I frown because he got to cuss and I didn't

"He's had a psychic put blocks up in his head. Unless there's a specific thought, even with Cerebro, it's hard to determine whether it's his client or his butler. We're hoping at this next meeting, where he's supposed to receive the girls, the buyer's name will be more prominent in his mind."

"So what do ya want from me?"

"Yer gonna be at the next meetin' with me," my psychotic teacher scowled at me.

"No I'm not," snorting at his, I crossed my arms again.

What?" he asked as Mr. Summer's eyebrows shot well above his visor. "Why the hell not?"

"I don't want to," I frowned, "And just because you think I should be all gung ho ta be on a mission doesn't mean I am."

His jaw started doing that weird tensing thing again.

"Cougar," the calmer of the two started, "If you're not there, Udinov might be suspicious and not go through with the meeting.

Pushing myself out of the chair, I head toward the door, "Get a shape shifter, then. Or stick Jubilee in there with an image inducer."

"This meeting isn't over," he told me firmly.

Turning back, I held out my hands, "I aint on this mission. Its not my meeting." I walked out on them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

K, this was supposed to be a one-chapter story, but it's gonna be way to long. So three chapter, maybe four. I'll try and get them out fairly quickly, though. Read and Review, just so I know there's someone! Thanks :D


	2. Chapter 2

Review Replies:

Wow, I got two flames...I don't expect them to be reading this since they disliked it so much, but I might as well reply. I realize I have a problem with switching my verb tenses. I started it in present, then typed it all out as past. Some of the verbs and phrasing weren't changed over. And there may be a typo here or there, but it happens. If the grammar is what you're referring to, it's called local color (or at least that's what I was taught in composition).

As for the Mary Sue comment...haven't had that one before, but maybe jumping into just this story it appears that way. Like I'd said in the first chapter, you probably should start at the first story. But to each his own. Like I said, I was posting this for the reviewers on the last story. Whether they're reading or not is their business.

That being said, I'm going to finish posting, flamers or no, reviewers or none. I might as well get it out of my head.

Chapter 2

I avoided both men throughout the weekend. Presumably, Wolverine didn't track me down to give us both time to cool off. We could get along reasonably well; most of the time I followed orders and he left me alone. But it was fairly common for one of us to get into a mood and set the other off and we'd be snarling and yelling in each others faces at the snap of a finger. Ferals feed on energies like that.

Monday I couldn't avoid him any longer. At team training, I barely got into the Danger Room door before he informed me, "Cyke is waitin' for you in his office. Ya gotta go over some plans for the mission."

My teammates all went still at that.

"I don't have a mission," I reminded him, moving to the floor to do some stretches.

"Not gonna tell ya again, kid," he warned, pushing buttons on the Danger Room's touch pad.

Everyone was shooting me questioning looks but I shook my head and focused on my hamstrings.

"Cougar," he growled and when I looked up he was staring me down, "Go on yer own or take yer other option."

Glaring back for a moment, I suppressed my own growl and rose to my feet. I avoided eye contact as I stomped maturely out of the room. My stubbornness told me to stay, but my pride didn't want to be dragged out of thee kicking and screaming in front of my teammates.

I stormed into Mr. Summers office and remained silent as he explained the background of Udinov (who was a sadist) and Wolverine's cover, Patch (which is a stupid name).

"Do you have any questions?" he asked politely, completely ignoring my sullen mood. Jerk.

He excused me to lunch where I tried to get in and out without incident. My team was waiting just inside the door for me.

"You get to go on an actual mission?" Amber jumped me.

"Not if I can help it," I grumbled, walking by.

"Are you going solo?" Conner asked, "Or with one of the X-Men?"

I don't answer because Amber reasoned out loud, "Must be with Wolverine since she's so bitchy about it."

"How did you manage to get picked for a mission with him?" Joseph sounded a little envious but also relieved.

"Just my luck," I rolled my eyes, moving toward the food table.

"How are you not excited about this?" Conner asked, lining up behind me. "Oh," he stopped in thought, "There's gonna be a lot of people who aren't going to like this."

I groaned, thinking about the super seniors. At least I wouldn't have to deal with Jubilee's jealousy. She was in the city attending college. I was not sure why she had such a liking for Wolverine. Clearly he wasn't an asshole to her, even when she like to sneak out an party, and she'd been caught several times unauthorized on X-Men missions. I understood her view, she'd been a resident of the mansion before it was a school with all us kids, but she was still a student too.

"How does a group of under grads get to go out for field work?" Vanessa, one of the super seniors came up behind us. Damn her super sensitive hearing.

"Not all of us, just Cougar," Ana corrected without thinking.

"Oh yea," Kyle, the red head sneered at me, "Cougar's got lots of experience on missions with Magneto, that's right."

By then, those types of remarks were used often enough that I no longer became offended by them. Ana, on the other hand, tried to by my champion whenever my name was smeared with my past. "That isn't fair and you know it." She stepped up to Kyle and glared at him, "Cougar just has better training than you egg heads."

A roll got half way to my plate as I paused at her choice of insult.

Yea, right," the boy huffed.

"Snappy retort," Amber backed up her friend. Just keep in mind that Cougar's the one that dislocated that shoulder of yours."

"She cheated," Vanessa spat.

All I wanted to do was just get my food…

"I could take her easy," Kyle assured them.

"There's no way in hell," Joseph was egging him on too, "She has the highest stats in our class. Probably higher than yours."

I was sure that that was an exaggeration, though I'd never cared enough to look up my stats.

"Lets go then," freckled fingers grabbed my shoulder.

For no real reason that I could pin point, I snapped. My tray, loaded, swung back, sending food in a high arc through the air before it connected solidly with Kyle's face. He stumbled back into the suddenly gathered crowd, his nose pouring blood. Friends pushed him back in and he came swinging. I blocked the first flurry of blows, but got one fist slammed into me, sending me back ten feet until the wall caught me. Oh yea, Kyle has super punches. Even though I tucked my chin down, the impact snapped my head back into the wall. I watched him effortlessly leap over the buffet table through my starts. Very pretty. When he was close enough, I tried to sweep his legs out from under him. He stumbled enough that I could launch myself off the floor and, lacing my fingers together, clubbed him under the chin with both fists. Less gracefully, I clambered over the food table to put more distance between us and give me more space to fight. His face was an unattractive red as he hurdled at me.

Vanessa waited until I was focused on him before grabbing me from behind. My teammates shouted objections, but I'd already ground my heel into her instep and wrenched free enough to give her a good kick before someone else grabbed me.

Snarling, I twisted in the arms until I saw Rogue with a grip on Kyle.

"Ya'll planning on this ta be a monthly thing or what?" she didn't look impressed.

"Let's go, petite," Gambit said, pulling me back through the crowd and out into the empty hall. I didn't quit trying to pull away. I was mad and holding me back wasn't helping. "Let me go," I growled through clenched teeth.

He chuckled against me, "An where ya gonna go if Ah letcha go, heh?"

I was used to Wolverine breaking up any public fights of mine, matching my anger and forcing me to calm down. I was not used to getting laughed at. So I stopped.

"Dat's better," he unwrapped his arms and let me step away. "Now, petite, what was dat about?" he indicated the lunchroom, where I could sort of hear Rogue yelling at my team.

"I didn't start it." With a frown, I rubbed at the back of my suddenly throbbing head, "I don't think."

"Gambit knows dat. 'Less ya started swingin' trays at people fo' no reason," then he frowned down at me, "Ya haven't, right?"

I squinted up at him, "No." The lights were remarkably bright then.

He watched me for a minute before deciding, "You not gonna tell me den? Dat fight wasn't bout nothing'?"

It was harder than usual for me to decipher his thick Cajun accent but I shook my head, making it hurt worse.

"Gambit think you got a concussion, petite," he said next, "Keep yo' secretes, but go on down ta the med lab."

"Am I in trouble?" I ask, suddenly hopeful that I'll get grounded and banned from Wolverine's stupid mission.

"Non, we take care o' it," he disappointed me.

I trudged down to the med lab where Beast confirmed my head injury and gave me an ice pack along with a lecture about my temper. I didn't bother telling him that I didn't start it. They never believed me anyway.

Mr. Logan passed me out in the hallway, stopping and turning from his destination to ask with his ever present scowl, "Ya go a month without getting into trouble and now ya can't go a week? Playin' catch up or something kid?"

"Leave me alone, Wolverine," I reply very disrespectfully, "I'm concussed."

"Serves ya right, getting into a fight with someone who has enhanced strength." He pulled a cigar out of his shirt pocket and chewed on it.

"Why do you always think I'm the one who started it?" I didn't really care if he answered or not, I was already walking away.

"Ya hit Kyle in the face with a servin' tray. Ya almost broke his nose."

"Kyle," I turned around to face him while awaiting the elevator, "Is a self-centered, egotistical bully and if he ever touches me again his nose aint gonna be the only thing I break."

We stared at each other for a moment before he finally snorted and ordered, "Get ta class."

The elevator door closed on him still studying me. It must have been my concussion, because he didn't comment on my attitude.

I made it through afternoon cases with a headache and as soon as school was over, headed int the woods. My balcony had been repaired last year and in the summer months was annoyingly occupied. I walked until I hit the brick wall surrounding the school grounds and then headed left toward a scraggly tree that grew up against it. It was a nice spot, far enough away from the school that I felt a little solitude, and the woods continued on the other side, keeping it quiet. It was also a nice spot to escape from, if need be. I thought about it, but decided to sit down in the shade for a while instead, tipping my head against the wall.

"No pack this time," Wolverine observed from my right, startling me but not enough to make me open my eyes. "Runnin' light this time, kid?"

Ok, so maybe I'd used it as an escape point a time or two…"I'm eighteen," I reminded him lazily, "It's not running away anymore, it's just leaving."

"We got a problem that might come up on Friday. Cyke wants ta have a meeting about it tonight at eight."

"Hows about," I suggested, "You just tell me what the problem is and I won't have to waste my time with the meeting." I was pushing it, I knew, but maybe he'd get sick enough of me to go away. Pretty thinking…

"Udinov's already got a handful of girls. Jean can't tell where they're at, he hasn't been there yet himself."

"What's that mean?" I wonder if he's getting tired of me talking to him with my eyes closed.

"It means we can't bust him until we get ta those girls" he explained still patiently, which surprised the heck out of me. "I can't track him there if he never goes there himself. I gotta have someone's scent ta follow."

Slowly I opened my eyes and stared at him, "Yer gonna sell me ta that sadistic lunatic."

He was leaned up against the wall, frowning down at me. "It's the only way we can be sure ta get ta them.

"Awesome," I snapped, getting myself up from the grass and turning toward the tree, "Tack more shit onta this stupid mission that I didn't wanna be part of ta begin with."

"What the hell's yer problem?" he finally yelled as I started up the tree.

I knew the hand holds, it took me the blink of an eye to scurry up to the safety of the top of the fence, "Forget it."

"So what? He hollered up at me, "Yer gonna just take off and leave them girls ta be sold?"

We both knew that I couldn't. But it still made me mad that he would try and use that against me. "I can't take off, Wolverine; I don't have that freedom, remember?" His face darkened but I continued, "My curfew's not until one, so until then, leave me alone." I jumped down to the other side of the brick wall and ignored his cursing.

When I finally returned to my room for the night (with two minutes to spare, I might add) a note had been shoved under my door. Mr. Summers wanted to see me in his office. Briefly, I considered ignoring it, but the thought of getting awoken to a pissed Cyclops didn't sound overly appealing.

Cyclops is alone in this office, writing out bills or something. "Sit down, please. Logan and I assumed that you wouldn't be back until curfew, so he'll be here in a moment. Until then," he leans forward, "You understand that this office is a safe, judgment free space. We only want to know why you're so adamant about not accompanying Wolverine on this mission. We're not angry—"

"Yer attitude is really starting to piss me off, girl," Wolverine barged in at the perfect time. "What the hell is yer problem?"

"Logan—" Mr. Summers warned.

"Right now?" I asked sarcastically, "You, ya big dumb jerk." I must have still been concussed.

"Cougar—" Summers admonished, trying to regain control of his office.

Suck it up, kid," he glowered down at me, "Not every mission is gonna be yer choice."

"This aint about the mission," I snapped, a little too loudly.

""So yer just tryin' ta be a pain in my ass?" he barked back.

"The world doesn't revolve around _you,_ Wolverine," I replied snidely. "But, yea, that's a perk."

"All Right!" Cyclops slammed his palms into the desk, standing up. "That is enough. You two are both going on this mission and you're going to get along. Have I made myself clear?"

"This is stupid," I rolled my eyes in frustration, turning toward Logan. "I aint ready ta go on a real mission, and if you weren't such a control freak you'd realize that. Take one of the super seniors."

"That," Cyclops spoke up, "Is where you've been chosen for this mission."

"What?"

"I could call each of the graduates in here," he explained, "And have Logan yell at them for one thing or another. I can guarantee that none of them will even be able to look him in the eye. You just yelled back, which is disrespectful," he put in, "But a quality that will be needed to convince Udinov that you're honestly furious at 'Patch' here for selling you out. You're perfect for this job and, believe it or not, your training stats are still higher than theirs."

"Compliments of Magneto," I reminded him bitterly.

"Doesn't matter," he leaned toward me and explained, "It's not where the training came from; it's what you do with it that counts. The girls that are in Udinov's possession will be sold as child sex slaves by the end of the week. You have the opportunity and skills to save them from that fate. We can't force you to put yourself in danger, but that is what the X-Men do."

I looked down at his polished wooden desk. From my childhood in my dad's wood shop, I knew that it was maple. This thought, for some reason, made up my mind. With a sigh, I asked tightly, "So what's the plan?"


	3. Chapter 3

Review Replies:

Liadan Lover: Ooh, a new reviewer! Or just a new name? Have you read the other fics? I'm glad you like and I'm trying to get this one out cuz this is the last chapter of this fic. Sorry it took so long, but I got some bad reviews (kinda mean ones, not even constructive criticism) and it just killed my motivation…But here you are : D And it kicked me back into writing mode

DryadMage: Thank you for your vote of confidence (and for defending me, lol). I always said the flames wouldn't affect me, but jeepers, they put me into a writing funk. I almost didn't finish the story. Also, your art work was way cool. THAT made my week! And helped me decide to finish this. Thanks :D

WinterWarrior: Thanks for reading. I don't think hardly any of the followers from the first three fics reviewed my last one-shot Cougar and only you and Dryad Mage followed this one. I appreciate it, and I hope you enjoy it. This should be the last chapter, cuz it's only a short fic.

Quote: "Always end the name of you child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name carries." Bill Cosby

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or any other Marvel character. They belong to Marvel and/or Stan Lee.

Chapter 3

The plan seemed simple enough. I'd have a tracker in my shoe, turned off in case they did a sweep. 'Patch' would hand me over as a bonus because he wouldn't have the other girls ready yet. I'd get pissed at him and allow myself to be dragged away while still putting up a convincing fight. The X-Men would then turn on my tracker and find me once I stopped moving, hopefully stashed with his other victims.

It worked out beautifully. I even got a good solid punch to Wolverine's face. BONUS! But once I was shoved into Udinov's sedan, he had his goons strip me to my birthday suit and redress me in a pair of barely-there shorts and a skimpy halter top. At this, I did give them a real fight, causing enough blood shed to get a gun pressed against my temple and ordered to do it myself. My clothes and shoes were tossed to a homeless woman.

It was stupid on my part. I'd shown them that I was dangerous, and for that, the gun never left my head. The limo drove to a gated community and up to a well groomed house. We entered the back and I was forced up some stairs and into an electronically locked room. It smelled like pee and fear sweat. My cat eyes saw it before he flicked on the lights.

Cages. Girls in cages. Young girls with wide, red rimmed eyes that all snapped to the door when it opened. There was a whimper, an all out sob from another one. The gun pressed harder into the back of my head.

"Move all the way to the back," the muscled man ordered.

We moved together with Udinov and the third man, who he ordered, "Give our new guest something to curb her aggression."

There was a wave of panic that I swallowed back down as I allowed my hands to be cuffed together. Regardless of the gun, I begin to struggle away from the syringe. "What the fXck is that?" I snarled just as Goon #2 stabbed it deep into my kicking thigh.

"American's call it X. Have you heard of it?" Udinov asked me. I knew it from classes at Xavier's school. It was a new street drug used by mutants, or on mutants, it depended on the strain. It suppressed mutations for a short period of time, making it a common date rape drug. The side effects were delusions, nausea, lightheaded ness...and a bunch of other things that I suddenly couldn't remember at the time. Basically it made you high. But coming off the drug was the bad part. It lowered their ability to control their powers. Not good for a feral, I was sure. I stared at the Russian's smiling face as the room began to wobble around us. He was close enough, so I headbutted him. Not the smarted move on my part.

"That was very stupid, little girl," he growled, holding his forehead. The goon's grip tightened on my arms and I turned to bite at him, distracting me from Udinov's meaty fist slamming into my stomach. I wretched from the blow and he hit me again. I was allowed to drop to the ground so the nice polished shoes could continue to pummel me. I struggled against the metal cuffs, slicing into my wrists. I'd been hit in the Danger Room before, but I'd never actually been beaten. The drugs were making things worse. Quite rapidly there became a disconnection between my body and my brain. Every move I tried to make, a simple leg sweep, my timing was off by five seconds it seemed. The disconnection did, however, keep the pain down to a severe throbbing. I could deal with that, but the blue chicken in the corner was really starting to give me a headache with it's incessant crowing...

What?

They rolled me into a cage, metal bars surrounded with chicken wire.

"I can't mar that face," the Russian bent down to look at me, face red and twisted with anger, "But if you ever attempt bodily harm towards me again, I will peel the skin from your back."

I didn't reply, my tongue was suddenly an eraser, so it would have done me no good to have tried to speak. The men left, causing someone to start crying. It wasn't me. I twisted around, screaming at the pain from my ribs and chaffed wrists, but I managed my hands in front of me. Pain was the key; it would keep my head clear while I was on the drugs. Or at least I thought so. Someone told me that...it was a whisper from the ceiling...or maybe that table over there...Damnit. I spent the rest of the night pressing on fresh bruises.

XXX

Everyone got jabbed again in the morning by needles on poles. I knew how to beat it by then. It made me sick, but since I received no food or water, I only dry heaved for awhile. I dozed on and off for the rest of the day, wondering where the hell the X-Men were at.

The room was spinning by the time that I realized it wasn't the florescent lights that were screaming, but people out in the hallway. "About friggin' time," I growled, shivering and shifting in my cage. I flinched as the door burst open but all happy feelings left me suddenly. "Shit…" It wasn't the X-Men.

The cages tore open, mine excluded, and a mess of mutants flew in to grab the other girls. I had little control over my powers of being noticeable by then, but they must have been up and running, shielding me from his attention. Steely gray eyes scanned the room once everyone was out, then abruptly locked on me.

"And how does one manage to go from a student at Xavier's School to a dog in a cage?" Magneto asked me, ripping my cage apart with a flick of his fingers.

Gently I touched the sheared bars, "They were supposed ta track me here." I looked up at him when the sharp metal pricked my finger, "Should I be runnin' away from you right now?"

He chuckled, like the psycho I remembered him being, then answered, "It would neither benefit me nor my cause at this time to harm you."

I nodded shortly, "Good. I don't think I can manage that right now. Where's Udinov?"

"I killed him," he stared evenly at me. "In exchange for my generosity of your life, spare me the Xavier-tinged lecture, if you would."

Very slowly I rose to my feet, stretching wicked kinks out of my back and answered him blankly, "Some people need ta be killed." The room started heaving again.

"That is a surprising response, considering your steeled morals at—Child, are you all right?"

He was suddenly very near and it took me a moment to realize that I'd almost blacked out. Super heroes don't faint…we black out, just to be clear. He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I realized he was having difficulty locking in on me. I shivered…or maybe I just twitched…and told him, "I need ta get this outta my system before my invisibleness aint the only power that I lose control of."

From arm's length away he studied me, "What did they do to you?"

"X" I shivered again, wiping at my sweaty face. Gross…

"How many doses?" he demanded.

"Three? Four? They said I needed more cuz I was dangerous." As unfunny as the situation was, I started laughing, "For all I know, yer nothin' but a figment of my imagination." See, that would be funny.

"Perhaps," he frowned, "We should return you to Charles' sooner rather than later."

I shook off his helping hold to object, "Wait, the other girls—"

"-Are safe with the Brotherhood. An X-Man at heart, I see. You're fighting an overdose and still concerned with your mission. A mission that you failed at, however."

"Don't rub it in or I'll puke on you," I followed him out of the building.

The magnetized flight to Xavier's was spent with me shoving my fist into my mouth to keep from screaming as I tripped out on drugs. When we landed just outside the back door, I managed a "Thank-" before diving off to the side bushes to hurl.

As I straightened the kitchen door opened and, using a charged card as a light, Mr. Lebeau's eyes lit on my chauffer. "Mon Deau," he managed before drawing his arm back.

"Gambit," I yelped, jumping between the two. If I wasn't high, it might have occurred to me that Magneto would simply shield himself from the exploding object. He had nifty powers like that. I don't and the bang throws me back into the grass.

"Petite?" He had had enough control to have it explode before actually hitting me, so I don't get a gaping hole in my chest.

"She needs to o o your infirmary," the old man hadn't moved, but he didn't seem offended by the attack either.

"m'OK," I groaned, getting up to my knees.

"For the X, child," he reminded me.

"Oh, yea." I took the offered boost from the Cajun but had to hold on to him as the grass swirled.

"Gamit don't like dis," he frowned at me, "What'd you do ta her, Magneto?"

"I rescued her," he sneered back, "Now, if you'd excuse me, boy, Charles is waiting in the parlor. You're to deliver the girl to Beast." With a spectacular swoop of his cape (or so it seemed to me…) Magneto strode away.

Still looking after him with a frown Gambit said to me, "Dis aint gonna improve yo' social status, petite…"

XXX

Once seated comfortably in the Med Lab, Dr. McCoy gave me a quick over-look, confirming my broken rib, called for a healer and then began bargaining with my cracked-out self about whether or not I needed the X antidote.

"Cougar…" he started slowly, "X has been known to stay in a mutant's system for up to a week. With the frequency of your dosage, the fact that you aren't catatonic is quite impressive. However, my main concern is your ability to control your mutant gifts. X severs the connection. Your physical shielding may be your only problem now, but with your feral natures…Cougar, please sit down…"

I stood on my tip toes on the metal examination table. There were sharks swimming around the floor. "I don't want to lose my toes." I explained rationally. "You'd better get up higher."

As Dr. McCoy continued to try to reason with me, Wolverine and Cyclops entered the room, followed by both Xavier and Magneto. A low growl came from deep inside my bruised chest.

"Cougar…" Beast trailed off.

Sharks be damned, I lurched across the room with all intent and purpose to claw off Wolverine's face. He started it, with his 'pissed off' energy coming into my space.

As fast as I felt I was, his hands locked around my wrists and he swung me to the ground.

"Logan," Beast admonished, "She has broken ribs."

"What the hell's she comin' after me for?" he growled.

I tried to bite his hand.

"Please restrain her for a moment." He drew a blue liquid into a syringe and I began kicking at Logan's soft spots. "This should begin taking effect fairly quickly."

Glaring at both men, I made a cross between a scream and a roar to no avail.

"That's hardly necessary," Beast jabbed me.

"Holy shit," Conner joined the mess then."

"Language, please, Medic," Professor Xavier corrected automatically. To Mr. Logan he said, "I believe you can help her up now."

"Are you sure, Charles?" Magneto studied me, "She still looks rather livid with him."

"She always looks like that," both Wolverine and Conner corrected.

Up on my feet again, I waited for the shakiness to subside before re-attacking my teacher. "You were supposed to track me," I shoved him with a snarl, then hunched in on myself in pain. "Damnit…" I hissed.

"Back on the table, please," Dr. McCoy ordered cheerfully, "And let young Conner here help you with those ribs."

The thought of a healing sounded awesome by that point and with no care for propriety, I lifted Udinov's skimpy shirt up to my bra. My teammate gaped at the bruises.

"Jesus, Cougs…"

"Just so ya know," I replied tightly while he began healing, "Missions with Wolverine suck."

"You have an antidote for X that works that quickly?" Magneto asked, looking me over.

"Formulated by Dr. McCoy, yes," the Professor answered cautiously. The tension in the room rose suddenly and my teammate and I exchanged an uneasy glance. There was a lot of metal in the MedLab…

"All done," Conner said a little too loudly.

Hopping off the table with my newly reclaimed reflexes, if not my sanity, I snatched the new vial and tossed it to my former dictator.

"Hey," Logan snapped, grabbing at me.

As much as I hated myself for it, I involuntarily flinched, throwing my arm up between us to block. We both froze and I stared at the floor, not wanting to meet anyone's eyes. Angrily I explained, "He got me out of a fxxking _cage_ Wolverine." I was sure everyone was staring so I asked without looking up, "Did Dr. Grey get what she needed?"

"Yea," he answered shortly.

"Then I'm goin' ta bed." Staring straight ahead, I moved through the men.

I didn't go to my room though. I couldn't stand the thought of being cooped up in a room, even if it was my own. I went to my tree, enjoying the long walk through the woods to calm my jittery nerves. I wrapped my ungloved hands around a low branch, squeezing hard to dig the bark into my palms. 'Breathe in and out. Just Breathe,' I thought to myself with my eyes closed.

I don't know how long I sat there just breathing, but when I turned around and opened my eyes, Wolverine was watching me from the shadows. "I can see you," I snapped.

"I wasn't hidin'." He crossed his arms and studied me.

"What?" I snapped again.

"You all right, kid?" he finally asked, watching me carefully.

I didn't answer him right away. I had gone through a lot just to get to Xavier's school. I'd learned a lot along the way and even more since I'd been there. I still didn't feel that I was prepared for that mission. Not the way it turned out, anyway. Maybe that wasn't something that could have been taught there, but I still felt that I shouldn't have been put in that position. I wasn't ready to be put back into a cage like that.

He watched my face darken and my eyes look away, but he didn't press when I answered shortly, "I'm fine." Instead he pulled something out of his pocket and held it out to me, a credit card and the keys to his jeep.

"What's that for?" I asked, not moving to accept them.

"Part of bein' an X-Man is learnin' how ta deal with the aftermath of a mission. No matter how it ends, yer gonna be the person ta live with it. Whether ya go get drunk or sit in a bathtub and cry or go run wild in the hils, it don't matter ta me. Find yer way ta deal." He held the objects closer and added as I took them cautiously, "Or yer never gonna make it at this job."

Looking in my hand I asked him, "Yer gonna trust an 18 year old girl with a limitless credit card?" I must have still been high…

"You've worn the same pair of shoes for three years, kid," he pointed out.

I blinked at him, not looking down at my bare feet, and answered blankly, "They're comfortable. And steel toe."

"That's my point," he looks at me like I'm the dumb one. "Yer not the kind ta go on some insane shopping spree. Besides, ya need a new pair. That bag lady's wearin' them now."

Narrowing my eyes I asked, "You found my shoes?"

"Tracked her all over the flamin' city," he grumbled, shaking his head.

"So you were tryin' ta track me," I frown then add, "I thought you were better than that."

Wolverine's eyes narrowed dangerously as he asked, "You leavin' now or am I takin' my keys back?"

I pulled the keys close to me and turned slightly, "Nope. My keys. I'm leavin'." I started back toward the mansion, almost skipping at the lovely thought of a hot shower. "When do I have ta be back?"

"A week," he grunted.

"Two," I negotiated. "I was put on drugs."

"Five days for pushin' it." He growled.

"A week and I half," I countered, "And I won't tell anyone that ya tracked a homeless person thinking it was me."

"Excuse me?" He stopped to stare at me darkly.

"A week sounds good," I said quickly and took off at a jog.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

That's the end of it. Hope you liked it. I think this is the last one that's been bouncing around in my head. I can't make any guarantees. If you add me as a favorite author though, I think it tells you when I post anything else. Hope you enjoyed :D


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